Do not be deceived into thinking the University of Vermont’s 5-0 Hockey East playoff win over Maine was as easy or as one-sided as the final score might indicate.

It wasn’t and no one understands that better than the Catamounts, who expect another tooth-and-nail scrap with the Black Bears when UVM tries to wrap up the best-of-3 series Saturday night.

For instance, that 3-0 Vermont lead after one period? That could have been 4-0 or 5-0 … or 3-1, 3-2 Maine. Instead, UVM’s offensive opportunism, goalie Stefanos Lekkas’ sterling work and a Catamount team defense that racked up 10 blocked shots in that period offset the constantly threatening Black Bears.

“We played great but I don’t think the score was necessarily indicative of how the game really played out,” UVM coach Kevin Sneddon said. “They had some tremendous chances in the first period and other chances certainly in the second.”

As Vermont built its 3-0 first period, primarily on Liam Coughlin’s pair of goals, Lekkas put up 13 of his 31 saves en route to his second career shutout.

“Stef was sensational tonight … he was probably the big difference in the hockey game,” Sneddon said. “We finished our chances. We executed our game plan to a ‘T’, probably the best we’ve played from that standpoint in quite some time.”

As so often has happened this year, the Catamounts had one line step forward with a big night. Coughlin had one goal in 27 games in the regular season but accounted for UVM’s 2-0 lead with scores at 3:27 and 9:15 against Maine goalie Rob McGovern (30 saves). He and linemates Brendan Bradley (goal, assist) and Travis Blanleil (2 assists) excelled on a night Vermont’s leading scorer, Ross Colton (11-15-26); day-to-day, was still sidelined.

“He’s had so many chances of late. He’s been playing really well for us,” Sneddon said of Coughlin. “He hasn’t been rewarded for all the hard work he’s put in. He’s flying out there, using his speed, using his size very effectively.”

Craig Puffer added the third goal at 19:11 of the first but equally important to Coughlin’s goals and Lekkas’ saves were the 10 blocked shots.

“The team sacrificed tonight, for sure and Stef stepped up big, a lot of big saves. Everybody was blocking shots from D-men to forwards, so it was great,” Coughlin said.

“It wasn’t like (Maine) didn’t have many chances. What we have to understand is that we need to get better (Saturday),” Sneddon said. “This was a very hard-fought win.”

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Bradley spiked Maine’s early surge in the second with his goal at 12:40 for a 4-0 lead and Lekkas pointed to defenseman Ori Abramson as the Catamount most responsible for keeping Maine at bay.

“(Ori) Abramson saved probably three goals in the second period that could have changed the game,” Lekkas said. “Our ‘D’ were doing real good jobs; same with our forwards on the (penalty kill), blocking shots.”

Mario Puskarich added the final goal 2:29 into the third, after which the biggest remaining questions were whether the Black Bears could create momentum for Saturday and whether Lekkas could get the shutout. He did and it remains to be seen what Maine cam do in Game 2.

“They’re going to be very, very hungry,” Sneddon said of Maine. “Our juniors and seniors remember a couple years ago after we had a big first night against Maine how hard and how desperate they played the next night and did a great job. We have to expect that. Just like it’s hard to sweep in the regular season, it’s much harder to do in the playoffs.”

“They’re obviously not going to like the result tonight and they’re going to come out hard but that’s playoff hockey,” Lekkas said. “It was nice to get the win tonight but right after, put it away and (Saturday’s) a new game.”

In 2015, Maine rallied to win Game 2 4-2 before Vermont advanced with a 3-2 overtime win in Game 3.

Correspondent Ted Ryan covers UVM hockey for The Burlington Free Press. Contact him at TedRyanVT@aol.com and follow him on Twitter at @TedRyanVT.